Fire Pitino

[gophereric30]

Completely disagree with your silly 100% thinking. The players had the chance to make the plays and they did not. They are his players certainly. He brought THEM here and did not bring in more and/or better players, but the coach can not make the plays for the players. They are adults and they are responsible for their failures just as he is responsible for his failures in recruiting.

Especially when I've seen the players do it in the past!

 

[cjbfbp]

Well, we can't fire players. We can fire the coaches who prepare players to perform. Consistent failure to perform falls on the coaches.

Yes, that's an essential point that people too often fail to grasp. The difference between Pitino and the players is obvious: Pitino receives a base salary of $2 million with additional incentives to get the job done. For a $2 million plus coaching job, fairness to the coach is not the primary consideration. "Is the coach getting the job done?" is the central question.

 

[howeda7]

So Pitino leaves, what does team look like next year? Gabe, Carr, Willis, Omersa, Curry? Ihnen, Freeman, Williams, and (Greenlee) probably gone, Mashburn (coming because of connection with Pitinos) and Mitchell likely gone, Oturo gone for sure (more than likely anyways). If he comes back he has a great core even better if Oturo does shock us and come back. And the year after that we only lose Willis. Pitino took some time to figure things out but this looks like a promising core going forward. If he is gone we start all over with another unknown. Just because guys are promising like Craig Smith and Niko doesn't mean they are going to be a homerun here. Look at Texas with Shaka, Indiana with 5 coaches since Knight (some success, some not), USC with Enfield. I could keep going. Firing and hiring is high risk, sometimes high reward, sometimes low reward move. Pitino was probably not the best hire 7 years ago (I agree some bumps along the road) but we are finally starting to see some sort of depth and roster construction going into next year and you want to blow it up? I have a feeling most people on there first job were great in the first couple years and took sometime to master it. Bet most of you are glad your boss didn't fire you just because you were raw but showed flashes of potential.

If Oturu leaves, which is likely, we will be worse next year and Pitino will be fired then.

Even if he comes back, I don't understand the "we're a top 25 team talk." As we've seen from Tre Williams and Ihnen, expecting much out of Mashburn next year is a reach. We will mostly be the same team we are now, with Ihnen hopefully serving as an upgrade over Demir. So maybe we win a couple more games. That doesn't make us a top 25 team. It makes us a bubble team. And that's if all key players stay healthy because as usual we will have suspect depth. Is that good enough for a peak Pitino season? I don't think it should be.

Finally, the idea that it will be a train-wreck with a new coach is silly. If we hire an existing coach, he will likely bring a recruit or two with him. If we hire Belein, he might have success persuading our current recruits to stay. Either way, the idea that we're guaranteed 2-3 awful years is a stretch.

 

[Gopherbbdude]

As many times as I read "Only fire Pitino if we hire the right guy."

That's not a valid position, for obvious reasons, for anyone with the brains to think past the end of his nose.

Either you want to keep Pitino, or you want a new coach.

Oh right...your the only one with brains...great

 

[skiumah1]

So Pitino leaves, what does team look like next year? Gabe, Carr, Willis, Omersa, Curry? Ihnen, Freeman, Williams, and (Greenlee) probably gone, Mashburn (coming because of connection with Pitinos) and Mitchell likely gone, Oturo gone for sure (more than likely anyways). If he comes back he has a great core even better if Oturo does shock us and come back. And the year after that we only lose Willis. Pitino took some time to figure things out but this looks like a promising core going forward. If he is gone we start all over with another unknown. Just because guys are promising like Craig Smith and Niko doesn't mean they are going to be a homerun here. Look at Texas with Shaka, Indiana with 5 coaches since Knight (some success, some not), USC with Enfield. I could keep going. Firing and hiring is high risk, sometimes high reward, sometimes low reward move. Pitino was probably not the best hire 7 years ago (I agree some bumps along the road) but we are finally starting to see some sort of depth and roster construction going into next year and you want to blow it up? I have a feeling most people on there first job were great in the first couple years and took sometime to master it. Bet most of you are glad your boss didn't fire you just because you were raw but showed flashes of potential.

The problem is that Pitino makes a lot more money than most people in their jobs. That's the business. It comes down to wins and losses. Winning brings more money in, losing less money. The crowds are dwindling. You should be selling out home games. Need to win more and everything else follows.
Rebuilds are fine. Let a new guy come in and if it blows up so be it. Looking for success in Year 3 and/or 4. Anything else is a bonus. That's ok.

 

[skiumah1]

No excuses for these kinds of losses

don’t give me anything about missed free throws or miracle deep 3 point shots. Maryland did not win this game, Minnesota lost it.

These losses are not random events. Horrible late game execution. Every team defends the same way at the end of these close games and he has not done anything to counter it. You can’t continue to let your turnover prone point guard dribble around against pressure defense, leaving him on an island without sending him help. You have to anticipate that they will press and you need to set up an effective break. You have to have effective baseline inbounds plays after a video review gives you a whole fucking minute to draw something up. You have to have some sort of half court set that can generate a good look deep in the shot clock rather than repeatedly ending up with a 1on1 prayer chucked at the rim. You can’t go the last 3-5+ minutes without a bucket. Richard Pitino is has repeatedly demonstrated his deficiencies in all of these areas.

It’s time. fire pitino

Agreed. It's so tough to watch them continue to go into non-losing mode with 5-10 minutes left in these games. That's all coaching. Clearly not how you win games. End of shot clock possessions have been brutal. I still don't understand Oturu not getting touches in the last 5 minutes. He's playing at such a high-level and you're still losing games. Ridiculous.

 

[Mountaineer Gopher]

Although there was plenty blame to go around with coaches decisions, I'm not gonna blame Pitino for missed free throws. You had 2 guys on the line that have shown they are very capable of making those and have shown in the past they can make them. Gabe has had no confidence this year. That free throw proved that. Carr's free throw hit back iron and gabe's was just a choke job.

Carr shouldn't of had free throws, he had a wide open teammate ten feet from him as he was getting double teamed, pass the ball ahead of you. When did they start milking the clock? Winning teams attack, they don't milk the clock all the time. If Carr would of passed, his teammate could of dribbled towards the basket(I think it would have been 3 on 2, or that player could have held the ball for several seconds and probably passed the ball back to Carr. We didn't need points at that time. Between that and letting Maryland roll the ball up the court several times as previously stated they wouldn't have had time for the game winning shot. You play keep away, not hold the ball till you get fouled. PASS THE DAMN BALL. way too much dribbling with Carr, sorry for the lengthy post.

 

[Veritas]

Although there was plenty blame to go around with coaches decisions, I'm not gonna blame Pitino for missed free throws. You had 2 guys on the line that have shown they are very capable of making those and have shown in the past they can make them. Gabe has had no confidence this year. That free throw proved that. Carr's free throw hit back iron and gabe's was just a choke job.

I have noticed that more than a few times in sport. Whereas some freshmen just don't seem to know how hard the game is, a lot of sophomores have a hell of a time with situations they now know are difficult to do under pressure. It will be interesting to see whether Gabe grows out of that or not. The whole team just plays like sophs, not seniors.

 

[Veritas]

Yes, that's an essential point that people too often fail to grasp. The difference between Pitino and the players is obvious: Pitino receives a base salary of $2 million with additional incentives to get the job done. For a $2 million plus coaching job, fairness to the coach is not the primary consideration. "Is the coach getting the job done?" is the central question.

If he is not getting it done, fire him; but don't say the loss last night was 100% his fault, because it was not.

 

[DanvilleGopher]

Not pressing the guard and letting them roll the ball to the dang 3-point line is inexcusible!

Is that right, they let the ball roll that far?? Seriously? I'm in Ca. and don't have BTN as part of my cable package so I was watching Gamecast on ESPN... another reason to question his coaching ability. I think I would have blown a vessel if I saw that on TV!

 

[short ornery norwegian]

On the FT's, maybe the players would have a better chance of making those late-game FT's if they weren't exhausted from playing 38 minutes a game.

I don't think the late-game collapses are a surprise. Tired players mistakes. Really tired players make more mistakes

 

[jovs]

Bet most of you are glad your boss didn't fire you just because you were raw but showed flashes of potential.

I can guarantee most wouldn't get seven years of potential. The problem is that is all he has shown, potential, a few short periods where a break out looks like it is going to happen then this.

I think it's a foregone conclusion at this point, there aren't going to be many fans in the barn next year if he stays, I don't think Coyle will put up with that.

 

[howeda7]

I can guarantee most wouldn't get seven years of potential. The problem is that is all he has shown, potential, a few short periods where a break out looks like it is going to happen then this.

I think it's a foregone conclusion at this point, there aren't going to be many fans in the barn next year if he stays, I don't think Coyle will put up with that.

If Pitino wanted to survive this year based on "potential" he needed to hit a HR in recruiting and have 2-3 of the top MN kids signed. Instead he has zero. If Mashburn was the 3rd player in this class instead of #1, I'd be down with giving him one more year. He needed either an A in recruiting or on the court preferably both. Instead we got a pair of C's. It's not good enough.